RECENT RELEASES:
CAPOTE (R) Anyone who has read In Cold Blood or seen the 1967 movie version will be basically familiar with the raw material here — a pair of drifters reveal themselves to a reporter while awaiting execution for the senseless slaughter of a Kansas family — but Capote yanks the focus away from the killers and puts it squarely on the writer and his process. That writer is Truman Capote, portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a performance that gives us traces of all the Capotes that we think we know — the narcissistic dandy, the sensitive artist, the twee fop with the whiney baby voice, the literary powerhouse — and fuses them all into a character too complex and human to be pigeonholed by any of those descriptions. 4.5 stars.
CHICKEN LITTLE (G) Disney's latest computer-animated feature offers an increasingly familiar scenario: plenty of great stuff to look at, but not much by way of memorable characters or even a stick-to-your-ribs story. 2.5 stars.
EL CRIMEN FERPECTO (NR) El Crimen Ferpecto (The Ferpect Crime — the typo is intentional) gives us all the basic building blocks of noir — deception, amoral behavior, and, finally, murder — in the decidedly black comedy of a suave, up and coming department store manager whose ambitions go horribly wrong. The director here is Spanish auteur Alex de la Iglesia, an inspired lunatic whose movies are all over the map but often outlandishly funny. Held over at Sunrise Cinemas in Tampa. Call theater to confirm. 3.5 stars.
ELIZABETHTOWN (PG-13) Elizabethtown is another one of Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire-esque tales of a golden boy humbled, brought down to earth and reborn on the wings of love — but the movie meanders all over the place and the director seems like he's on autopilot. 2 stars.
G (R) Though there are rappers, gangstas, cheating husbands and hoes in this hip-hop adaptation of The Great Gatsby, the central love story helps to overshadow the film's negative undertones, and the question of what we're willing to give up in exchange for fame and fortune has universal appeal. 2.5 stars.
— Quilin Achat
GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' (R) Director Jim Sheridan (In America), diving for the first time into non-Irish subject matter, tries to do for hip-hop star Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson what Curtis Hanson did for Eminen in 8 Mile. 50 Cent plays Marcus, a thinly veiled version of himself, who grows up fatherless and floundering in the Bronx, drifts into drug-dealing and eventually into prison, where he vows to turn his life around. The parallels to 8 Mile and, particularly, to Hustle & Flow are unavoidable as Marcus struggles to make the leap from gangsta to rapper, but Get Rich never achieves the emotional power or stylistic command of either of those films. 3 stars.
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK (PG-13) Ostensibly, actor-turned-director George Clooney's remarkable new film is a more-or-less true account of that pivotal moment in American politics when CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow dared speak out against Joseph McCarthy, the Commie-hunting U.S. Senator who turned paranoia into a national pastime. David Strathairn is an effective presence as Murrow, a 1950's proto-liberal media star (Murrow might just be the Anti-O'Reilly) who spoke his mind and crusaded tirelessly for the truth, brow furrowed earnestly and a burning cigarette permanently wedged between his fingers. Clooney chose to shoot in black and white, a wise decision that lets us know that Good Night and Good Luck is art, too, while blending seamlessly with the extensive archival footage of McCarthy incorporated into the film. Also stars Robert Downey Jr, George Clooney, Ray Wise, Patricia Clarkson and Frank Langella. 4 stars.
